Last week
four teams from the
Baccalaureate Debate
team headed to
Albany for the 2008
debate state championships.
The teams
that headed to Albany
were Daranee
and Rudy, Jehan and
Latisha, Erica and
Marcelo, and Jolijt
and I.
The Debate
took place at Albany
High School. To give
you an idea of the
size of the school,
before we headed
in they actually
gave us a map, and
had students directing
debaters to the
right classrooms.
On Friday, March
4, each team had 2
debates. During the

second debate Erica
and Marcelo had
a chance to debate
Anca Dogaroiu, a
former student at
BSGE who now
goes to Stuyvesant
high school. The
hotel we stayed in
was called the “Best
Value Inn.” The
hotel was packed
with debaters and
almost every room
had ordered pizza.
With most people in
a different room then
the one they were
assigned it was as if
we weren’t all competitors
fighting for
the top spot. Around
one o’clock the
coaches came around
and sent us back to
our rooms. After two
more debate rounds
the next morning,
four debate rounds in
total, the top 8 were
chosen. Unfortunately
only one team
from BSGE moved
on, the Junior Varsity
team of Jehan and
Latisha.
In their next round
several of us sat in
and watched, Jahan
and Latisha went
up against students
from Lakeland
high school. The
topic was the United
States assistance to
Sub-Saharan Africa.
Jehan and Latisha
who wanted the U.S.
to assist Sub-Saharan
Africa compared
their plan to a onenight
stand with Africa,
which kept the
debate interesting. In

the end, however the
three judges decided
unanimously for the
negative team and
Jehan and Latisha
were knocked out of
the competition.
We waited a few
more hours as the
last debates were
taking place, and
finally the award ceremony
started. The
announcers went
through 4 different
kinds of debate
before finally getting
to policy debate.
They started with
the novice division,
and moved on to the
Junior Varsity. When
they got to the sixth
place team, they
called Jehan and
Latisha.